Safety belt buckle

ABSTRACT

A SAFETY BELT HAVING A BUCKLE PROVIDED WITH LATCHING MEANS FOR INITIALLY INTERCONNECTING TWO SEAT BELT SECTIONS AND THEREAFTER PROVIDING FOR CONNECTING ADDITIONAL SECTIONS SUCH AS SHOULDER STRAPS AND CROTCH STRAPS, THE LATCHING MEANS AUTOMATICALLY LATCHING THE SECTIONS WHEN ATTACHED BUT PERMITTING DETACHMENT OF AUXILIARY SECTIONS WITHOUT DETACHING THE MAIN SEAT BELT SECTIONS.

Sept. 20, 1971 J. GLAUSER ET AL 3,605,207

SAFETY BELT BUCKLE Original Filed Aug. 14, 1967 INQENTORS James E. Glauser Don L Frisk Attorney United States Patent Ofice US. Cl. 24-20517 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A safety belt having a buckle provided with latching means for intially interconnecting two seat belt sections and thereafter providing for connecting additional sections such as shoulder straps and crotch straps, the latching means automatically latching the sections when attached but permiting detachment of auxiliary sections without detaching the main seat belt sections.

The present application is a division of application Ser. No. 660,335 filed Aug. 14, 1967, entitled Safety Belt Buckle, now Pat. No. 3,520,034.

This invention relates generally to buckles adapted for use in connection with safety 'belts employed on land and air vehicles such as automobiles and aircraft, and the invention has reference, more particularly, to a novel safety belt buckle that is adapted to receive additional straps such as shoulder or crotch straps as well as seat belt straps.

Safety belts have been used for many years in aircraft and in recent years in automobiles. These belts, which are usually of two piece woven material respectively attached at one of their ends to opposite sides of the seat, are commonly fastened together in front of the user by passing one end through or into a buckle clasp which is opened usually by turning a pivoted lever or cover. This opening movement disengages the clasp from the end of the webbing which can then be drawn out, releasing the user. It is important that these belts buckles be released easily after emergencies so as to free the used in case of fire or other hazard. Also, it is highly desirable that these safety belt buckles be capable of connecting and disconnecting additional straps such as shoulder straps as well as seat belt straps as the latter alone will not prevent the user from striking his head against the windshield or other obstruction in use.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a novel safety belt buckle for interconnecting the ends of seat belt strap sections and for also connecting the end or ends of any additional strap or straps such as shoulder or crotch straps to the seat belt, said novel buckle being so constructed and arranged that as a safety measure the seat belt strap sections must be interconnected before said additional straps can be connected to said seat belt strap, thereby insuring the fastening of the seat belt Whenever additional straps are attached thereto.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel safety belt buckle of the above character wherein a single means is employed for releasing all straps from the buckle, said means serving to initially release any additional attached straps and thereafter release the seat belt strap sections, so that once these sections are disconnected additional straps cannot be connected to the buckle.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a novel safety belt buckle wherein the additional straps may be connected or disconnected without disconnecting the seat belt sections from the buckle.

A feature of the invention is to provide a buckle of 3,605,207. Patented Sept. 20, 1971 the above character that may be used either right hand or left hand Without any change of parts.

These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent after a perusal of the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the novel belt buckle of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan assembled view of the structure of FIG. '1 but with the buckle cover and push plate removed; and

FIG. 3 is a side view of the structure of FIG. 1, with parts broken away, with the seat belt tongue removed.

Similar characters of reference are used in the above figures to designate corresponding parts.

In the invention as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the main frame 27 is formed with a turned over lip 16' for receiving the bight or loop portion 11 of the leaf spring structure 8. The latch bar 9' has its outer end portion 10' pivoted in the spring structure bight 11' and is urged upwardly toward cover 17' by this spring structure 8, so that the free end of this latch bar abuts the depending flange 64' of the pressure plate .1 8. With no straps attached to the buckle, the side edges 61 of latch bar 9' are positioned opposite side apertures 23' provided in frame 27 due to the upward pressure of spring 8' as illustrated in FIG. 3. This latch bar 9' has a lock dog 12 for engaging in the slot 13 of metal tongue 14 to which seat belt section 15 is attached. Thus, inserting tongue 14' fully into the main frame 27 depresses latch bar 9' against the tension of spring 8 and causes lock dog 12 to snap into slot 13', thereby securing seat belt section 15' to the buckle, seat belt section 5 being permanently though adjustably attached to the buckle by being passed around cross-bar 6' carried by U-shaped frame 7' slidable within main frame 27. Latch bar 9' is formed with one or more upturned beveled lock dogs or lugs 28 adapted to engage in a slot or slots 29 in the metal tongue or tongues 30 of an additional strap or straps 31. The leaf spring structure 8' is formed with stop projections 32 which limit the inward movement of tongues 30 when attaching these tongues. The side edges 6-1 of latch bar 9 serve to prevent the tongues 30 from engaging the lock dogs 28 when the seat belt section tongue :14 is disengaged from the buckle.

Thus, in use, when the seat belt tongue 14 is inserted into main frame 27 it rides up on lock dog 12' and snaps over the same so that the tongue is held in the buckle. The tongue 14' depresses the spring structure 8' some what so that thereafter the edges 61 of latch bar 9' no longer prevent lock dogs 28 from engaging in slots 29 of tongues 30 of additional straps such as shoulder straps, should these tongues be inserted into apertures 23' and thus become locked therein. To disengage the additional straps it is only necessary to depress pressure plate 18' somewhat or partially so that lugs 28 disengage tongue 30. To release the seat belt sections it is only necessary to depress pressure plate 18' still further or completely when lock dog 12 will disengage tongue 14' effecting the disconnection of the seat belt sections. It will be noted that in this structure the additional straps 31 cannot be connected to the buckle if the seat belt strap sections are disconnected. Once the seat belt sections 15 and 5 are interconnected, the additional auxiliary straps 31 can be connected and disconnected at will and this is helpful as it will enable the user to lean forward in his seat when desired by releasing the auxiliary straps.

Thus, it will be seen that in the novel buckle of this invention the seat belt must be fastened before additional straps can be attached to or detached from the buckle. Thus, even when a shoulder strap is detached as when leaning forward to perform some function on the vehicle,

the seat belt remains fastened, which is an important safety factor. However, all straps can be quickly released, when desired, by pushing the pressure plate 18' all the way in. This prevents leaving any additional straps connected once the seat belt is disconnected. It will be noted that the locking parts of the buckle are mirror images of each other so that the buckle can be attached either right or left hand, as desired.

Since many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. A safety belt buckle comprising a main frame having fastening means adjacent one end thereof for attaching one seat belt section thereto, said main frame providing an opening at its opposite end for receiving the apertured tongue of a complementary seat belt section, a latch bar pivoted within said main frame adjacent said opposite end opening, said latch bar having a first locking dog thereon, spring means within said main frame engaging said latch bar for urging said first locking dog outwardly of the buckle towards its locked position, the insertion of the tongue of the complementary seat belt section into said opening acting to momentarily force said locking dog inwardly of the buckle against the tension of said spring means until the same snaps into the aperture of the tongue to lock the latter in the buckle, an additional locking dog provided on said latch bar and positioned adjacent the side of said main frame, the said main frame having an opening at its side opposite said additional locking dog for receiving the apertured tongue of an auxiliary belt, an apertured buckle cover provided on said main frame, and a push plate within said main frame engaged and pushed outwardly by said latch bar and manually depressible inwardly through said buckle aperture, said latch bar being held in its outermost position in engagement with said push plate by said spring means when the complementary seat belt section tongue is not connected to the buckle, in which position said latch bar serves to block and prevent the insertion of an auxiliary belt tongue through said opening into the buckle, the insertion of the complementary seat belt section tongue to lock the same in the buckle, however, serving to depress the latch bar partially against the tension of said spring means, thus clearing said side opening and permitting an auxiliary belt tongue to be inserted into the buckle for engaging and locking with said additional locking dog, said push plate being normally held in abutting relation to the underside of said buckle cover due to the pressure of said spring means acting through said latch bar, thus normally holding the latter in its locked position, partial manual depression of said push plate and the latch bar against the tension of said spring means serving to disconnect the additional locking dog from the auxiliary belt tongue releasing the latter, said safety belt buckle thus insuring the interconnection of the seat belt strap sections before additional auxiliary straps can be connected thereto, said complementary seat belt section remaining locked to the buckle during such partial depressions of the latch bar, further manual depression of said push plate and the latch bar to substantially its fully depressed position resulting in further compression of said spring means and causing the latch bar first locking dog to release the complementary seat belt section, thus disconnecting the seat belt after the auxiliary strap has been disconnected.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,120,420 6/1938 Topper 24205.17 2,469,391 5/1949 Horning 24-205.17 2,795,831 6/1957 Kesler 24205.17 2,832,120 4/1958 Jayet 24-205.17 3,046,982 7/1962 Davis 24205.17 3,364,531 1/1968 Moss a- 24-230A FOREIGN PATENTS 678,171 7/1937 Germany 24205.17 117,092 6/1918 Great Britain 24205.17

BERNARD A. GELAK, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 24205.19, 230A 

